In the past, when Taiwan was preparing to bid for major international events, the authority or staff on the projects were not quiet and careful enough, which gave China the time and opportunity to make their move and use their political influence against Taiwan in the decision making or voting process. Before bidding for the World Games 2009, he had actually tried another international event first but failed for the same reason. Kaohsiung initially won by one vote but China heard of it and immediately persuaded some members who were absent on the day to show up and vote against Taiwan (in favour of another country). Taiwan then lost the bid.

When it came to the World Games, with the support from the DPP administration, Hsieh kept his cool and made sure that everyone on board remained low key until it was confirmed that Kaohsiung won the bid. Hsieh said that he was grateful for the support and understanding from the president, officials and several members of the International World Games Association (IWGA).

However, when the DPP’s President Chen Shui-bian was still in office, the Chinese Nationalist Party used their majority in the Parliament and the City Council to freeze their budget and accused Hsieh and his colleagues of corruption. The blue friendly media also went to town with it. (Hsieh and his colleagues have gone through the legal challenges and were either not prosecuted or cleared of the charges. Hsieh is now suing those who continue to call those projects corruption). Luckily, the construction company was willing to carry on with the work and get paid later. After Hsieh became the Premier in 2005, he also made sure that Kaohsiung got the resources it needed within his remit.

Over the four years after winning the bid, Kaohsiung has seen four different Mayors. In February 2005, Hsieh became the Premier in the mid of his second term as the Mayor. He handed it over to the acting mayor, Chen Chih-mai. Unfortunately, Chen stepped down after seven months when his father was implicated and later charged in a corruption case. As a result, Yeh Chu-lan took over from Chen and stayed until the 2006 Kaohsiung Mayor election which DPP’s Chen Chu won. This series of changes caused some anxiety in IWGA but Hsieh reassured them that the DPP central government would make every effort to ensure the Games go ahead as planned.

This event should be something that all Taiwanese can feel proud of and the government (a normal one) should see this as an excellent opportunity to connect with the international community. However, after Ma took office and the Chinese Nationalist Party was in power (they now have an overwhelming majority in the Parliament), the Sports Affairs Council in the Executive branch of the government ignored the amount allocated to the World Games 2009, already passed by the Parliament and cut the budget by 27%. The amount giving to the whole event was only marginally more than what has been given to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Deaflympics Taipei 2009 alone.

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Taiwan, also known as Formosa, is NOT part of China. The majority of the population see themselves as Taiwanese, NOT Chinese. Taiwan is a democracy and therefore people there do not wish to be ruled by China, a dictatorship with poor human rights record and about 2,000 missiles aiming at Taiwan.